Foodie guide to "Day out with Thomas" in Felton

Day out with Thomas

Roaring Camp Railroads

Felton, CA 95018

(831) 335-4484

I have two young boys and one thing they absolutely adore Thomas the Tank Engine. Every year they would bring out a life-size replica out and for an abhorrent fee, allow you to ride with Thomas for a very quick ride. I usually implore my wife to skip the ride, but she feels it is more important for the boys to get the full experiences. Out of protest, I elect to skip the ride and stay behind. So what does one do while waiting for the others to get back from their trip to nowhere? That's right I go straight to the BBQ pit and food vendors to sample the available edible goodies.

Now there are some warnings which I must impart. First the cooks are from the local high school, so don't expect award winning techniques here. Last year they over cooked my chicken. This year it was actually not bad. So it is a crap shoot on whether your food will be cooked to order. Also, the prices for food is pretty much the standard gouging you would expect. For example a small can of soda, cost 2.50.

The first thing I tried was the sonora pork sandwich. With a name like that I was hoping for something new and great. It wasn't bad, but it was basically shredded pork with a bit of BBQ sauce. It tasted pretty much like a Sloppy Joe expect with shredded pork. They did give a generous helping of pork though.

Next, I tried the BBQ beef ribs. Last year it was okay. This year, it was seasoned well, but it practically screams for some BBQ sauce. If it had just a bit of sweet BBQ sauce then it would have been perfect. It needed that counter balance of sweetness for the salty seasoning they had.

My wife had the 1/2 chicken with the beans. The beans tasted like some of the can beans I had and was quite bland. The chicken was not bad. It was seasoned well, and this year, they didn't over cooked it. It was tender and still juicy. My son enjoyed his chicken quite a bit. The corn on the cob was my wife's favorite. It was sweet, and steaming hot. She actually went back to order a few more.

Since I wasn't filled from my beef ribs, I ordered the hamburger. It tasted like the type of hamburger you get from the cafeteria in high school. But like I said, it was high school kids cooking, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

Upon walking around, it can get somewhat tiring and hot. I recommended that you try the snow cone. It was actually refreshing and you can get it in multiple of flavors. You can eat the ice while it's still have the flavoring, or wait till it melted a bit and drink it through the straw. Perfect for just lazy strolling through the hordes of kids running around.

Overall, I would say that "A day out with Thomas" is more suited for my kids. But the food was okay as long as you don't expect too much out of it. You can always bring in your own snacks and food, which we did for our kids. But it is much easier just to buy food there, especially the ice cream and cold foods.